Machines for laying cable strands

ABSTRACT

A GUIDE FOR A CABLE STRAND LAYING MACHINE IS FORMED, AT A LOCATION WHERE A ROTATING CABLE STRAND UNDERGOES CHANGE IN DIRECTION, AS A PLURALITY OF CONTOURED HOLLOW GUIDE-SLEEVES THROUGH WHICH THE STRAND PASSES, THE SLEEVES BEING COUPLED TOGETHER FOR COMMON ROTATION AND INDIVIDUALLY SUPPORTED IN RESPECTIVE ANGULAR POSITIONS IN A CURVED GUIDE DUCT. THE FIRST SLEEVE IS DRIVEN SUBSTANTIALLY   SYNCHRONOUSLY WITH THE ROTATION IMPARTED TO THE STRAND AND THE SLEEVES ARE SUCCESSIVELY DRIVEN FROM THE FIRST SLEEVE. THE COUPLING BETWEEN THE INDIVIDUAL SLEEVES MAY BE BY TONGUE AND GROOVE CONNECTION.

Jan. 19, 1971 n. ROURTIER 3,555,

MACHINES FOR LAYING CABLE STRANDS Filed May 24, 1968 s Sheets-Sheet 1 M19, 91 v MOWER "3,555,803

MACHINES FOR LAYING CABLE STRANDS Filed May 24, 1968 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 k 25 2/ a 23a 22a. Q a \"25 F v Z/a,

Z/ 29 25 g, 4 Fl 26 9 27 /9 74 y w 1 f 1 i I 1 A l I I n'w/ m mg a.

-1 1, 71 D. POU|QQTIER 3,555,803

MACHINES FOR LAYING CABLE STRANDS Filed May 24, 1968 3 Sheecs-Sheet s United States Patent M 3,555,803 MACHINES FOR LAYING CABLE STRANDS Daniel Pourtier, 14 Avenue du 11 Novembre, Saint-Maur, Val-de-Marne, France Filed May 24, 1968, Ser. No. 731,849 Claims priority, application France, Aug. 29, 1967,

Int. Cl. D01h N00 US. CI. 57-59 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A guide for a cable strand laying machine is formed, at a location where a rotating cable strand undergoes change in direction, as a plurality of contoured hollow guide-sleeves through which the strand passes, the sleeves being coupled together for common rotation and individually supported in respective angular positions in a curved guide duct. The first sleeve is driven substantially synchronously with the rotation imparted to the strand and the sleeves are successively driven from the first sleeve. The coupling between the individual sleeves may be by tongue and groove connection.

The present invention relates to cable strand laying machines which include, at a location thereon where a cable strand to be laid is caused to undergo a change in direction, in accordance with the invention, at least one contoured hollow guide-sleeve through which said strand extends and which is rotated substantially synchronously with the rotation to be imparted to said strand, said guidesleeve comprising means for driving it off power olftake means and further means for coupling it in driving relationship to a subsequent sleeve, which further means accordingly form power input means.

In a machine for laying strands into cables, especially in those intended for accurate cable manufacturing, as in the case of telephone cable in 'which strict observation of the pitches is vital or in those intended for laying secto rial strands, it is important to offer up the different strands at the strand laying point in a particular angular pattern.

This in turn leads to imparting a determinate rotation to each of the pay-off spools carrying the strands to be laid. All form of contact with fixed guiding means along the paths of the different strands to be laid must however be avoided as such contact could have a disrupting effect on the behaviour of the strand and prevent the latter from reaching the strand-laying point in the Way it should.

In certain advantageously devised machines, the pay-off reels are mounted with their axes horizontal on turrets that are caused to revolve individually about a vertical axis, so that the strands to be laid are paid off vertically. Since it is preferable furthermore to position the laying guide located at the laying point and the machine components located past this point with their a-xes horizontal, each strand to be laid must undergo a change in direction between the point of exit from the associated pay-oil reel and the point 'where it reaches the strand-laying point.

-In order to circumvent the aforesaid disrupting factors recourse has been had to pay-off chenilles positioned above the exit point from each pay-01f reel and ahead of the strand-laying point. Such arrangements however are complicated and costly owing to the number and complexity of the chenille driving mechanisms.

ilt is the object of the present invention to overcome these drawbacks whilst making it possible to retain economically the big advantages afforded by the vertical pay-01f from the strand reels in machines of this kind. Of course, the invention is in no way limited to the specific layout mentioned precedingly, but includes in its scope 3,555,803 Patented Jan. 19, 1971 all layouts in which a strand to be laid is required to undergo a change in direction.

The present invention accordingly relates to a guiding device which includes at least one rotating contoured sleeve through which a strand to be laid is caused to pass, said sleeve comprising means enabling it to be coupled in driven relationship with power offtake means and means enabling it to be coupled in driving relationship with a subsequent sleeve.

Each sleeve is rotatably mounted in a tubular supporting member which includes means for uniting it with a similar associated member, said uniting means being mutually inclined at the two ends of the support whereby to enable a plurality of such supports to be joined together to form an arcuate channelling duct through which the strand to be laid can be made to undergo a change in direction through as large an angle as desired.

It has been found that such rotatable guide means avoid binding of the rotating strands to be laid, as would occur if the strands were in direct contact with a fixed guide, whereas the rotating guide means follow the rotation of the strand to be laid regardless of their shape and size.

It has been noted furthermore that the strand to be laid can rotate Without deterioration notwithsanding the differences in speed resulting from the diameter ratios, to wit the ratio of the inner diameter of the rotating guide sleeve to the outer diameter of the strand to be laid.

'I has finally been observed that, even 'with mutual sleeve driving means made to relatively wide manufacturing tolerances, the results obtained remain entirely satisfactory.

The description which follows with reference to the accompanying non-limitative exemplary drawing will give a clear understanding of how the invention can be carried into practice.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation view of a strand laying installation in which the finished cable is drawn off from the strand laying point horizontally whereas the strands to be laid leave the pay-off reels vertically.

FIG. 2 shows in perspective on an enlarged scale one of the component parts of such an installation, to wit a pay-01f reel associated at its exit to a guide according to the invention.

FIG. 3 shows on a still more enlarged scale, fragmentally and in section, a rotating guide device of the kind shown in FIG. 2.

HIFIG. 4 is a section taken through the line IV1V of 'FIG. 5 schematically illustrates the arrangement of the strand guides according to the invention on a laying plate, the plate being in section as taken along line V-V in FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic front view of the assembly shown in FIG. 5.

The strand laying machine shown in FIG. 1 has a laying stock 1 positioned with its axis horizontal and preceded by laying plates 2 equipped With guides through which pass the different strands 3 to be laid. Each strand 3 led up obliquely to the stock 1 issues from a pay-ofi? reel 4 having its axis horizontal and mounted on a turret 5 revolving about a vertical axis, whereby the strand 6 leaves the reel 4 in a substantially vertical direction and is caused to pass through a rotating guide 7 having its axis vertical at the point of entry thereinto. The passage through the guide 7 is of bell-mouth shape, and the bellmouth of the guide nearest pay-off reel 4 is rigid with an outrigger 8 cooperating with the tip 9 of a rod 10 which is fixed to the support 11 of the horizontal shaft 12 carrying the reel 4 on turret 5.

Accordingly, in order to drive laying stock 1 synchronously with the turret 5, the machinery includes transmis sion shafts 13 together with all necessary angle drives and adjustment devices, as well known per se.

The entry guide element 7 is retained by a pair of ballbearings 14 and 15 in a housing 16 fixed to the crossmember 17 of a fixed T-beam 18, it being possible for the cross-member 17 to support a plurality of identical assemblies associated to as many pay-off reels.

The bearing housing 16 is capped by a collar 19 which is secured by a radial screw 20 and forms a supporting base for a curved duct 21 which, at its end remote from collar 19, is formed with a reinforcement 22 which has the same configuration as the end of housing 16 receiving collar 19 and which carries a ball-bearing 23 inside it. The inner race of ball-bearing 23 is retained by an elastic keeper-ring 24 cooperating with a matching groove formed on the wall of an associated guide element 25. The ball bearing 23 is in turn retained through the end face of its outer race abutting against a similar keeperring 26 cooperating with a groove formed in reinforcement 22.

Thus, the guide-sleeve element tilts away from the axis of entry guide element 7 since the plane of reinforcement 22 is at an angle to the plane of collar 19 by virtue of the curvature of duct 21. The sleeve 25 is rotated by lateral tongues 27 projecting from the end-face of guide element 7 and engaging into slots 28 in the adjacent endface of sleeve 25. Similarly, the other end-face of sleeve 25 is formed with tongues 29 similar to the tongues 27. The passage through sleeve 25 is contoured so that its inlet and outlet are flared, the flared inlet being such as to permit connection with the flared outlet from guide element 7 on the inside of the arcuate guide path formed thus, or else with the flared outlet of a preceding sleeve in the same way, as will be explained hereinafter.

Obviously, the angle imparted to the guiding device as a whole can be altered by adding one after the other as many arcuate ducts as may be required, it being possible for duct 21 to be followed by an identical duct 21a to which it is united by a collar 19a engaging over the reinforcement 22, as shown in FIG. 3.

The successive sleeves 25, 25a, etc. are all rotated synchronously. As is clearly shown in FIG. 2, it is possible, by assembling the required number of ducts 21 and sleeves 25, to form a guide extending over approximately 120 of arc, which is sufiicient to redirect the strand to be laid from the substantially vertical direction of the strand run 6 to the oblique direction of the strand run 3. Manifestly, a longer or shorter arc may be provided, depending on the relative positions of the reels and the guides on the laying plate.

As shown in FIG. 4, the arcuate duct 21 can be of the open kind and consist merely of two arcuate uprights 21b separated from each other by windows for monitoring operation of the guide system and for maintenance and ball-bearing lubrication operations. The provision of positively rotated guides 25 through which the cable strand is routed makes it possible to follow the rotation of the strand regardless of its shape and size, without damage to the strand and above all without causing incorrect positioning at the laying point notwithstanding the differences in speed which result, on the one hand from the diameter ratio, i.e. the inner diameter of the sleeves to the outer diameter of the strand to be laid, and on the other from the non homogeneous nature of the ordinary screwdrivertype drive. Obviously, more accurate mechanisms could be used to transmit the rotation to the successive sleeves, examples being universal joints or even concertina-type metal bellows.

Rotating guides as hereinbefore disclosed may be used likewise at locations where contact between a strand to be laid and a fixed guide could have similar disrupting effects, even if only to a lesser degree. FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate a laying plate 30 (similar to laying plate 2 in FIG. 1) on which the guides are formed as hereinbefore explained. The exit guides 31 projecting from ducts 32 are mounted with the requireddegree.of,..convergence, about a central duct 33 surrounding an axial guide 34, in holes formed in laying plate 30. Each projecting guide portion has a grooved pulley 35 mounted thereon, The pulleys 35 are formed with twin-grooves and are coupled in pairs by means of drive belts 36 which, because the pairs of pulleys are not coplanar, have a circular section. Two bottom pulleys, for example, are driven by belts 37 which diverge from the grooves of a drive pulley 38 rigidly united with a wheel 39. A V-belt 40 driven by a drive pulley 41 runs over the wheel 39. The guides 31 are thus driven synchronously at a speed and in a direction appropriate to the strand laying.

Obviously, some of the guide supports 32 could also receive an arcuate duct 210 if need be, particularly in cases where the angle between the axis of guide 31 and the direction of the strand to be laid upon entry into such a guide is greater than a predetermined limit.

It goes without saying that many changes and substitutions of parts may be made to the forms of embodiment described hereinabove without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. By way of example the guide elements formed by the aforesaid sleeve and their ducts may be united in any desired number, in a flat or skew curve configuration.

I claim:

1. A cable strand laying machine comprising, at a location where a rotating cable srand to be laid is caused to undergo a change in direction, in combination, a plurality of contoured hollow guide-sleeves through which said strand passes, means supporting said guide sleeves at successively inclined positions for individual rotation thereof, coupling means for coupling said guide sleeves together for common rotation, means for rotating the first of said guide sleeves substantially synchronously with the rotation to be imparted to said strand, said coupling means including power ofiFtake means on each said guidesleeve for cooperating with the previous guide-sleeve for being rotated thereby, and power input means on each said guide-sleeve for cooperating with the power offtake means of a subsequent guide-sleeve.

2. A machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said means which supports the guide sleeves comprises an arcuate duct in which each guide-sleeve is disposed, and means uniting each guide-sleeve with said duct, the uniting means for the sleeves at either end of the duct being mutually inclined.

3. A machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein said uniting means comprises circular bearing surfaces permitting pivotal adjustment of at least one of said guide sleeve in relation to said duct or like support.

4. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said guide-sleeves is provided at one end with at least one slot and at the other end with at least one tongue member which respectively form said power offtake means and said power input means.

5. A machine as claimed in claim 1 comprising a pivotable entry bell-mouth coupled to one sleeve and having an outrigger member mechanically associated with a revolving strand-pay-off-reel support, said bell-mouth providing a passage therethrough for a strand to be laid issuing from a pay-off reel.

6. A machine as claimed in claim 5, wherein the axis of said pay-off reel is horizontal, said bell-mouth being supported by a turret member capable of revolving about a vertical axis and said bell-mouth accordingly having its axis likewise vertical.

7. A machine as claimed in claim 6, comprising a strand-laying guide-sleeve support associated with a plu rality of successive arcuate supporting ducts each containing an inclined guide-sleeve.

8. A machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein a plurality of guide-sleeves are mounted on a strand-laying plate with their axes converging to the required extent towards a strand-laying stock, said guide-sleeves being 5 6 individually rotated through intermediate drive means 2,457,402 12/1948 Roetting 57- 58.36 from a common power take-off. 3,309,857 3/1967 Haugwitz 5758.36X

References Cited JOHN PETRAKES, Primary Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 U.S. Cl. X.R. 1,784,105 12/1930 Nigro et a1. 5758.38 57 5g 33, 105

2,147,065 2/1939 Somerville 5758.38X 

